What Was Lost, Now Regained
by sephydark
Summary: After being rescued from the burning Black Crown game shop, Yuugi needs to make sure his other self is all right. Manga-verse.


Yuugi awoke in a haze. He felt disoriented, and the bed he lay in was not his own. As if on instinct, he reached behind him to grab the Millennium Puzzle, and felt... nothing. No Puzzle, not even the table that he always put it on when he went to bed. Just some metal bars and the wall behind them.

Yuugi opened his eyes and looked around. The room was dark (it appeared to be night time), but he could see well enough to know that it was not someplace he recognised. He lifted himself up to glance around, noticing as he did so that his arm hurt. Actually, scratch that, he hurt all over. And now that he thought about it, this place looked quite a bit like a hospital. What had he done to land himself in the hospital...?

Yuugi racked his brain in an attempt to remember the last things that had happened to him. Otogi had challenged him to a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters over his Millennium Puzzle, but it had been smashed by that weird clown. He had won, and then the clown dragged him into that other room and—the fire! Black Crown had burned down! The Puzzle—was the Puzzle all right?

Yuugi nearly fell out of bed in his haste to find the Puzzle. But no, there it was on a table next to his bed, safe and complete. He quickly grabbed hold of it, not bothering to take the time to put it on, and went to his soul room to make sure that his other self was still all right.

"Other me?" Yuugi called, pushing open the door to the corridor that connected his soul room to that of his other self. "Other me, are you there?"

"_Aibou_!" Yuugi heard, as a familiar form appeared from inside the other door. Yuugi didn't even bother to pause long enough to say anything in reply. Instead, he rushed at his other self and nearly tackled him with a hug, pressing their lips together in a desperate kiss.

"Is everything all right, _Aibou_?" the other Yuugi asked when they eventually broke apart. "I couldn't sense you for a while; I was worried."

"The Puzzle was stolen and then it got taken apart and there was a fire and I was afraid I was never going to see you again," Yuugi said all in a rush, hugging his other self tighter.

"Ow! Let go!" the other Yuugi said, wincing. Once Yuugi had apologised and loosened his hold somewhat, his other self responded to what he had said. "A fire? What on—? No wonder I hurt so much."

"That other game shop, the Black Crown, burned down while I was inside. I guess I must have passed out; I'm probably lucky I didn't get hurt more."

"Passed out? _Aibou_, you don't just _pass out_ that quickly. How long were you in there?"

"I had to put the Puzzle back together again. I couldn't just leave it in there..." Yuugi said, feeling a bit sheepish even though he didn't regret his actions. "It might have melted and I would have never seen you again."

His other self pushed Yuugi back to look thoughtfully at him. "I suppose I'm glad that you were worried about me," the other Yuugi said, "but you need to think about yourself, too."

Yuugi let go of his other self so that he could take a step back and take a clear look at his other self's face. "Do you think I wasn't?" he asked, a bit of harshness creeping into his normally gentle voice. "I know as well as you do that if one of us dies, the other does too. If the choice was between dying with you and living without you, I knew which one I wanted to choose."

The other Yuugi gave him an angry look, but it quickly dissolved into affection and he crossed the short distance to wrap his arms around Yuugi. "It's impossible for me to stay mad at you for something like this."

"Don't be mad; it was my decision," Yuugi murmured in his other self's ear. "I love you more than anything, other me. I don't ever want us to be separated." He turned his head so he could kiss his other self on the cheek, and then again on the mouth. He slipped a hand under his other self's shirt (his shirt, really; they shared clothes, along with everything else), reveling in the feel of skin under his fingers.

Yuugi found himself wishing to feel more of his other self; he ran his hand up and down his other self's back, but it was still not enough. He wanted to cling to his other self and never let go; he wanted to feel his other self everywhere; he wanted...

"Other me," Yuugi said, pulling back so that they could look each other in the eyes and feeling his cheeks color bright red. "Do you want to...? I mean, that is..." Yuugi caught himself stuttering and paused to take a breath and compose himself. "I want to make love to you. Er, if you want to."

Yuugi's other self looked thoughtful for a moment before he made his reply. "I _do_ want to. Very much. But I think now might not be the best time for it. You're in the hospital, and these burns are still painful."

"I guess you're right," Yuugi said, feeling only a little disappointed. "But I was—"

"Of course," his other self said, interrupting him, "once you've recovered a bit, that's a different story." Yuugi noticed that he wore the same self-assured smirk he did when about to defeat an opponent—although, unlike those opponents, Yuugi didn't feel at all worried about it.

"So, what do you think we should do in the mean time?"

"Rest?" his other self suggested. "After all, the more you rest the sooner you'll recover, right?"

"Yeah, probably," replied Yuugi. "I think we'd be more comfortable if we moved to my soul room."

The other Yuugi agreed, and they picked their way across the toy-strewn floor to the bed that stood in the corner. It took some rearranging for them to find a position that didn't hurt either of their burns but didn't leave them too far apart for Yuugi's taste (not that the last bit was hard; the bed wasn't very large), but they managed it somehow, and Yuugi soon found himself drifting off into a contented haze of not-quite sleep, clinging happily to his other self.

* * *

><p>When the nurses came in to check on Yuugi in the morning they found him smiling softly, still clinging to his Puzzle with so tight a grip that none of them was able to take it from his hands.<p> 


End file.
